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Well, ew-fdl logs me in, and says welcome back; but there is no comment textbox. Tried it five times. I think it is WordPress bugs, nonstandard programming at that site. Re this morning's WaMu article at ew-fdl, I was going to link to another weak spot in the subprime scandal, that article about the effects of unregulated oversight of appraisers; though the news outlet has a policy to trim the most strident commentary from the online version of its investigative journalism. My take was lots of people in our fringe of silicon valley were eyeing the taper of ipo's just before y2k, freeing personal capital, banks consumately prepared to participate, and the appraiser fiasco was long time developing and went way beyond subprime matters, though collateralized debt obligation instruments would make a fun post's topic, as well.

Wierd, though that I could post hello, world at fdl yesterday but today no posting allowed. Got other things to do, with software that is compatible. And as tnh morphs into the proprietary site of the new basic owners, those other threads would be where I would type.

Apropos the Opera problem - another oddity with Opera is that the new FDL has a beige (not a white or light gray) background on the main and comments pages (per my earlier comment about a beige background). EW's new FDL page, however, is a very pale gray/muted white on Opera. Meanwhile, on Firefox (which I use to comment @ FDL), the main and comments pages of the new FDL are a bright white (while EW's new page is the same pale gray/muted white that it is on Opera). Go figure. Thanks for the heads-up on the timing of the site transition, EW; I'll watch for your farewell post here in the next few days.

[The blue bar color seems to have been muted (or at least the commenters' names changed to a contrasting color), to my eye, since Saturday, on the main FDL, so that now it's just the overly bright contrasts and especially the too-tiny font lettering that keeps the FDL posts and comments "smothered" or muted, and difficult for me to read - without the manual fix helpfully offered above to manually enlarge the FDL font. (I tend to figure that if website fonts are too small to read in comfort without manual adjustment, someone isn't particularly concerned that the words be read, and I treat the content accordingly - I imagine other more casual readers do the same.)]

On FISA: Thanks for that heads-up about the Judiciary Committee business meeting, EW (over at FDL), and for the link to the copy of the Specter bill. Here's the information from the Senate website:

November 29, 2007
An Executive Business Meeting has been scheduled by the Committee on the Judiciary

I wonder if this is the Republican-endorsed version of immunity that Harry Reid, at the behest of Jay Rockefeller, will relabel "bipartisan" and arrange to pass with 60 votes, so as to override Chris Dodd's hold. I can't tell whether this is the same language Specter had available two-and-a-half weeks ago when he offered an immunity "substitution" amendment during the Judiciary Committee FISA mark-up (which was not voted on, but which ended up seeming pointless because Specter admitted that the state secrets issue would continue to trump resolution of the underlying merits of pending cases). But at least - if C-SPAN would cover it - we may see a little more debate out in the open about immunity, instead of just more closed-door deal-making.

For those who didn't spot it, there's an interesting piece at Balkinization, which the Judiciary Committee has apparently been briefed on, that proposes legislating an end to the state secrets blockade, in exchange for perhaps damage caps on any assessments levied against the telecommunications corporations/ISPs for breaking the law:

In closing: Many, many thanks to emptywheel, and to the whole crew here at The Next Hurrah for welcoming all of us - long-winded and short-and-pithy commenters alike - democratically and openly, these past years. I have very much appreciated your hospitality, and consider this site's steady, quiet presence and information-packed archives a true public service. Thank you.

Thanks, Mad Dogs. That's very kind. I hope to, but it probably won't be until after EW can implement the site tweaks she alluded to. In the meantime, keep those Congressional types on their toes for me, would ya? In return:

I pledge to try to continue commenting, over yonder at emptywheel's new FDL digs.

upon further review, though it's the first time someone has mentioned it re:NYFS, I have found this is an issue on some other sites that some FireFox users have experienced because of Adobe Flash elements and how they are handled by some FireFox plugins, I found this as the solutions for most of the common causes for that error. Hope this helps!

ActiveX plugin conflict
If the Mozilla ActiveX plugin is installed and is either misconfigured or the wrong version for your browser it can interfere with Flash content. Exit the browser, then look for the file "npmozax.dll" in the installation directory plugins folder. If found, rename the file "Xnpmozax.dll" to disable the ActiveX plugin. If Flash content plays correctly afterwards, remove the ActiveX plugin if you don't need it or install the correct version for your browser.

Illegal Operation In Plug-In
If certain web pages cause "Illegal Operation In Plug-In" errors that refer to "Shockwave Flash" and contain the message,
The plugin performed an illegal operation. You are strongly advised to restart Navigator (or Firefox):

The Mozilla ActiveX plugin can cause this error [9]. Removing the file "npmozax.dll" from the Firefox or Mozilla Suite installation directory plugins folder (see above) may stop the error.
Removing the files "GetFlash.exe" and "GetFlash.exe.manifest" from the Firefox or Mozilla Suite installation directory plugins folder and from the C:\WINDOWS\System32\Macromed\Flash folder (if found) may stop the errors [10]
The problem is often resolved [11] by uninstalling Flash 8 or 9 and installing Flash 7 (on Windows, use the Netscape installer for Firefox and Mozilla Suite - see above).
This problem may be caused by a rootkit type virus. Scanning your hard drive using a program like F-secure Blacklight(trial version) and having it rename the offending files has been reported to solve the problem for some.

Adblock conflict
Flash content may not display if the Adblock extension is installed and OBJ-TABS are enabled. Disable OBJ-TABS in Adblock's options or try updating to the latest version of Adblock, or uninstall Adblock and install Adblock Plus. [12].

Amazing Media Browser
Flash content will not display if the Amazing Media Browser extension is installed, if the "Block all embedded objects" preference is set to "Yes". Change the preference setting to "No" to allow embedded media such as Flash to display.

Flashblock conflict
If you're using Flash Player 8 and the Flashblock extension, you need Flashblock 1.3.3 or higher. [13].

If you've removed Flashblock you need to take the following code out of userChrome.css or userContent.css:

object[classid$=":D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"],
object[codebase*="swflash.cab"]
{ -moz-binding: url("chrome://flashblock/content/flash.xml#obj"); }
[edit]Delay or hang waking from standby
In Windows the problem will, in some cases, be resolved by installing the latest Flash Player 9. (flash/about shows what version you have installed) Symptoms in Firefox and Mozilla Suite are excessive delay waking the computer from hibernation or standby mode, such that the browser may appear to "hang" (bug 265172). High CPU usage may also be observed. As a workaround, close the browser before placing the computer in standby/hibernation. Note: Flash is not the only cause of problems after waking from hibernate or standby.

Memory Use
The Flashblock extension will help reduce memory usage by giving you control over the loading of flash images. Also, version 8.0.24.0 of Flash plugin can continually consume memory while you are on a web page that includes Flash content. [14] Workarounds are to remove the Flash plugin, block Flash content, or manually navigate away from pages with Flash. This problem is supposedly fixed in the latest Flash Player 9.

Crashes
Many crashes are caused by older versions of Flash, or even by recent versions.[15] If the crash still occurs with the latest version, follow Adobe's troubleshooting advice. If this advice does not help, please report a bug to Adobe.

Thanks for the help Mad dog. I haven't had time to try the workouts above. Just as an fyi, I tried accessing the websites using my old computer running Windows XP. No problems. When I find the solution to my problem I will post it here in case it can help anyone else.

Greetings from the frozen tundra. Glad you're still helping people here. I got into an email back and forth with FDL's Moderator (seemed like a techie). I still cannot sign in there using opera and at times the entire site is unstable and redirects me ad infinitum. For the most part I can get emptywheel to load and link to the cont'd stories and comments after a few tries. NONE of the links in the toolbox section top right will work and tho I can login with IE6, if I try on opera, I am transferred back to FDL's mainpage and get a 404 error.

FDL Help is very congenial and trying to help tho they've offered few solutions. They tell me that others with opera are having no problems. Told me to clear my cache, offered many times to "tweak" my password (?), told me to turn off flash etc. None of this stuff even comes close to making a difference. And they won't admit it may be something they are doing on their end. Still the only site on the web I am having problems of this nature with.

I can live without being able to login there as long as I can read Marcy and the commenters I originally got hooked on here.

I went and registered, looked at a post with dozens and dozens of comments, few worth reading, and walked away.

:really deep sigh:

I enjoy the smaller sites with intelligent commentary. I can post a message and feel like part of the community. This has been one of my very favorite places. I'm glad that Marcy is getting wider exposure and remuneration for her hard critiques and thoughtful analyses and trademarked timelines. However, I don't like huge or popular sites. I'd regarded this place as independent, but now TNH is just a cove in a lake. I'll read Atrios, for example, but refuse to open a comments page with hundreds of comments. The constant migraine makes my reading time even more precious, and by the time I've thought and typed, anything would just be buried.

I don't like FDL for several reasons, in no particular order: 1) The mods are snotty without cause (I've been a mod on an art site with 300,000 members and sysop on a games site with preteens, so understand how hard the job is, but politeness is a requirement). 2) The commenters lurch to each fresh post regardless of topic, so everything is off-topic. 3) I would rather deal with Jodi's obtuseness or the occasional passing troll than with immature legions yelling "Frist!" just to piss on the wall higher than the other dogs. 4) The owners and main posters refer to grown and accomplished women, including themselves, as "girls"... which makes this feminist grit her teeth. 5) Having been a mod, I watch community dynamics: clique formation is irritating but inevitable once critical numbers are reached. Members of a clique let other people do their thinking and independence of thought or opinion is not tolerated. Who wants to relive junior high?

For things like live-blogging, they are big enough to handle the site traffic and extra bodies during a trial or congressional hearing means that typing fingers can get rested as the next laptop in the relay takes over. Otherwise, I only go there when following a link.

Thanks, Marcy. I've enjoyed it here. I'll read your posts at the new place, but it will be sporadic and I'll probably not bother posting. My regards as well to the rest of the regulars: Sara with social issues, bmaz and the others with legal perspective and expertise, Dismayed and Phred and tekel and ... thank you for making this a community.

hauksdottir - You are welcome in any discussion I am part of, regardless of what site that may be at; and I should miss you if you were not to participate. For the most part, the comment threads have been pretty good at the new joint. There have been a few spurious interlopers that we did not usually pick up here, but on the whole, better than I was fearing. Change sucks, but your friends are still around, we expect you to be as well...

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